Wednesday, July 30, 2014

It’s rare to find good power metal in North
America, but Enceladus is a band that is more than impressive with their debut
EP “Time In A Dream”. This release features three tracks of absolutely molten
metal. Not for the faint of heart, this album truly puts the power in power
metal. The primary influence here is Lost Horizon, which is pretty much the
greatest power metal band to ever walk the earth. As a result, Enceladus has
high expectations to live up to. While not truly reaching the heights of Lost
Horizon, Enceladus does provide an impressive offering on this EP.

“Ethereality” is the opening track and it
comes out blazing at full speed. Complete with plenty of shredding and flashy
guitar work, this song impresses. Despite only having one guitar player,
Enceladus uses harmonized guitar leads. Additionally, guitarist Geo Roessler
plays many impressive solos throughout the release. Again, this is an area
where the Lost Horizon influence is undeniable, as his style really matches Wojtek
Lisicki’s. The other two tracks are pretty similar in their guitar-centric
tendencies. In fact, “Time In A Dream” even opens with a nice guitar lick.
Though it is a bit slower than the rest of the guitar work on the record, it
isn’t long before the song gets up to speed. The guitars are absolutely the
highlight of this release.

Soikkam, the singer for Enceladus is a
talented vocalist with a relatively wide range. He’s no Daniel Heiman, but he
does occasionally show Heiman’s ability to bring in strong emotion amidst
technical flare. This is most noticeable on the breakdown section during the
verse of “Time In A Dream” (it’s not a breakdown in the metalcore sense, but
rather a section where the instruments drop out a bit). His vocal lines are
memorable, and he sings them convincingly. Having a talented singer is
essential for power metal, and Soikkam does a magnificent job fitting the bill,
especially when he pulls out those brilliant screams, such as on the ending for
“Time In A Dream”.

The remaining song on this release,
“Ancestral Venture”, is another burning track. Like the other two songs, it
features speedy yet precise rhythm work, a spectacular vocal performance, and
dazzling guitar work. Though not as memorable as the first two songs, it still
rounds out the EP nicely. This track is a bit harder to follow in terms of song
structure, but it satisfies just as well because it pummels you with great
riffs (such as the one before the solo about 3 minutes in).

“Time In A Dream” was a hugely positive
surprise. It is uncommon for even the best power metal bands to have this much
energy. Those of you who avoid power metal because it isn’t aggressive enough
will definitely reconsider that notion after hearing Enceladus. This band has
the potential to compete with the giants of the power metal world, and if their
next release is anything like this one, they may overtake some of those bands
immediately!

Monday, July 28, 2014

It’s been a few years since Swashbuckle’s
last release, and my familiarity with the band stems only from their 2009
release “Back To The Noose”. The band always straddled the line between thrash
and death metal pretty well, but with a slight leaning towards thrash. It
appears in the last few years, however, that they’ve taken a more death metal
direction with their new EP “We Hate The Sea”. Admiral Nobeard’s vocals are as
harsh and brutal as ever, blast beats are aplenty, and overall, this is one
noisy release.

There are only 4 tracks on this release
that barely spans 7 minutes, and each one is slightly worse than the one
preceding it. “Beer Goggles” and “I Hate The Sea (And Everything In It)” are
the two tracks with the most memorability and interesting moments, but nearly
every song is so brief that the whole release feels like it’s over before it
really gets going. There are a lot of good riffs on this EP, particularly on “Beer
Goggles”, but they tend to get buried beneath blast beats, double bass, and
Nobeard’s twisted screams. On poor sound systems, “We Hate The Sea” sounds
awful, but with better speakers, it definitely is a decently produced record.
The main issue is that the guitars are not mixed as high as they should be, and
so it takes a fuller more bass-heavy sound system to bring out the riffs. This
is especially true when the band reaches the insane tempos that are present on “Slaughter
Upon International Waters”.

Sometimes it doesn’t quite feel like
Swashbuckle is a serious enough band. Between the fact that half of their “Back
To The Noose” album is interludes and narration, and that this EP is only 7
minutes long with a pretty muddled sound, it’s a bit disappointing to be a fan.
What the band does provide is more than adequate from a songwriting
perspective, but there really isn’t all that much here.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Disforia is a modern progressive power
metal band that comes from the US, and despite this origin, their primary
influence is straight from Germany. “The Age of Ether”, their debut full-length,
is an ode to later Blind Guardian (post-Imaginations), and even features an
appearance from Hansi on one of the later tracks. Despite this nod to one of
Germany’s best, Disforia can show their own sound at times as well. The main
factor that draws the comparison to Blind Guardian is vocalist John Yelland.
While not a dead ringer for Hansi, he has a similar sound to Hansi’s less
nasally moments. In addition, the use of vocal layering (and really the layers
of instruments as a whole) brings in that epic choir-like feel.

The band is at their best on the shorter
tracks. These songs are more straightforward and a lot catchier. This preference
likely comes from my dislike of progressiveness, but sometimes things are just
hard to follow when you have an hour of material and relatively loose song
structures. A track like “Dream Eater” is a great example of how progressive influences
can creep into a song without overwhelming it. In fact, despite being a bit too
dominated by keyboards, “Dream Eater” is by far the best song on the album. The
song has a brief appearance of harsh vocals (that are also present in other
tracks on the album), but what really drives the track is the brilliant lead
guitar work underneath the chorus. It has a very rocking feel to it, and is
something you don’t hear too often in metal, particularly in power and progressive metal, which
are a bit more calculated and precise than this.

Unfortunately after this track, the album
takes a bit of a turn for the worse. There is an onslaught of tracks that
exceed 8 minutes, and while there are a lot of interesting ideas present in
these songs, they ultimately lack focus. This disregard to standard song
structures is of course a major part of the appeal to progressive music, but
the band showed so much promise on earlier tracks like “Chaos” and “Dream Eater”
that it is a bit frustrating to see them take this direction. Regardless of my
dislike of this style, there are still a lot of great elements to Disforia. No
matter what else is happening in a song, Yelland’s vocals are always enjoyable.
His voice is almost preferable to Hansi’s simply because it is cleaner. Another
great element of this music is that there is almost always a cool riff going
on. While progressive tendencies sometimes lead to riffless bands, Disforia has
plenty of riffs to offer, and they use them often enough that the music doesn’t
get stale. Hansi’s appearance on “The Dying Firmanent” is interesting because
if you are listening to the album as background noise, you won’t even notice
it. Yelland sounds similar enough that you could definitely mistake him for
Hansi. Nevertheless, these singers sound great together.

On the whole, “The Age of Ether” is a
perfectly enjoyable record. The only reason for my negativity in this review is
because of my extremely strong preference of power metal over progressive
metal. Disforia does both sounds incredibly well. There are some interludes,
but they are never intrusive to the point of ruining a song, nor do they lead
to a situation where there is 4 or 5 minutes without music. They blend into the
atmosphere created by “The Age of Ether” perfectly. If you’re looking for
later-era Blind Guardian with even more prog influence, Disforia will
definitely appeal to you.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Unisonic is the super group featuring
ex-Helloween members Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen, alongside a group of equally
seasoned and experienced musicians. Apart from Kiske’s involvement with
Avantasia and other guest appearances, this project appears to be as close to a
return to metal as he is willing to get. The first album was a mixed bag,
largely due to a distinctive split between metal and non-metal songs. On their new album, Unisonic again gave us a taste with an EP,
and it was an unexpected surprise. The title track of that EP, “For The
Kingdom”, which also appears on this album, is essentially “Eagle Fly Free Pt.
2”. It is a fast, upbeat track that is completely reminiscent of Helloween. For
that reason, Unisonic’s second album looked quite promising. Unfortunately,
that track was a bit deceiving of the sound of the album.

“Light of Dawn” once again features a very
obvious mix of heavier metal songs and more ballad/hard rock-oriented material.
Each sound comprises about half of the album, and as was the case last time,
the metal songs are far superior to the non-metal tracks. Even the metal songs,
however, tend to be relatively standard and unexciting. “Find Shelter” for
example, can be pretty speedy in the chorus, with the use of double bass
drumming and Kiske’s melodic vocals, but its chorus isn’t anything special. The
rest of the song is likewise not too interesting, and it sort of leaves you
scratching your head, wondering how two of the greatest musicians ever could
create something so uninspired. These metal tracks take a turn for the better
once “Exceptional” comes in. This song is almost like a modern Edguy track. It
is built around its predictably catchy chorus, showing off the incredible vocal
talents of Michael Kiske. Even though the song begins in a similar manner to the tracks before it, it is immediately clear how superior this song will be due to Kiske's vocal melodies.

As mentioned before, the highlight of the album is "For The Kingdom", but there is also another old-school power metal track: "Your Time Has Come". Both songs are built around fast-paced riffs, melodic guitar work, soaring vocals, and catchy choruses. Much like what happened on "Exceptional", the second that both of these tracks begin, you immediately know your in for something better than the rest of the experience has been. "For The Kingdom" gets a bit tamer in the verses, but it is another opportunity for Kiske to show off his still perfect singing abilities. "Your Time Has Come" is even faster and features better guitar work than "For The Kingdom". This song shows the band at their absolute best, and reveals just how much potential they still have.

Many of the other tracks are just
disappointing. “You And I” is a ballad (only two tracks into the album!) that
is par for the course for power metal. Unfortunately it lacks the emotional
touch of a classic like “A Tale That Wasn’t Right”. Even a track like “When The
Deed Is Done”, which has some cool harmonized guitars, is ultimately quite
plodding by the end of the song. The solo in the song features some flashy
guitar work, but it is ultimately forgotten as it is surrounded by sub-standard
songwriting. When “Not Gonna Take Anymore” comes in, the act is starting to get
a bit tired. Michael Kiske will make absolutely anything sound good because of
how strong his voice still is, but at a certain point, the novelty of his
voice begins to wear off, simply because the songwriting continues to bore. Even when they give you an enjoyable track like "Exceptional", the band immediately returns to a ballad on the very next track! Some of the later tracks on the album are more reminiscent of the semi-enjoyable hard rock that was present on the debut, but it's just frustrating to see a band that still has the ability to make brilliant music water down their sound.

Perhaps it is unfair to compare this band
to Helloween, or to say that only the metal songs here are good. After all,
these guys are over 20 years removed from Helloween, and people are obviously
free to enjoy music beyond metal. The sad reality, however, is that these
musicians are both famous for their work in power metal, and while they’re free
to create any music they’d like together, the main reason why so many people
listen to Unisonic is to try to recapture the glory that the two Keepers
records delivered. I said in my review of the first Unisonic album that you can’t
expect them to put out a Helloween album, but “Light of Dawn” is a complete
step backwards from the debut record, and it is even further from the sound we
know and love, despite having a couple of tracks that bring back that sound. There are a few great songs here, and it is worth seeking out the release for those songs alone, but it is hard to recommend sitting through the entire album.